SPECTA projects

SPECTA cohorts

For SPECTA, please enroll patients with the tumor type specified in the table, ONLY when the status is green. You can enroll those patients by clicking on the , next to the green status.
Study specific information (HBM, Project Specific selection criteria, CRF completion guidelines…) can be found here . Please note that your electronic database ORTA password is required for access (protocol 1553).

For any questions, please contact the general SPECTA e-mail address: specta@eortc.org.

Body map

Thorax (THOR)

Primary disease Projects Status
Cohort 1

  • Patients with confirmed advanced or metastatic NSCLC (stage 3b and 4)
  • Naïve of any anti-local or systemic cancer treatment (in the adjuvant or metastatic settings)
 RP-1828 IMMUcan Open
Cohort 2

  • Patients with advanced or metastatic rare cancer
  • Malignant thymoma; thymic carcinoma; mesothelioma of pleura and pericardium; or neuroendocrine tumors of the thorax
  • Patients older than 12 years old
 RP-1843 Arcagen Open

Head and Neck (H&N)

Primary disease Projects Status
Cohort 1

  • Patients with confirmed locally recurrent and/or metastatic HNSCC
  • To be treated in 1st line with focus on ICI/ICI-chemo (once approved in Europe)
  • Or patient resistant to platinum, to be treated with ICI/ICI-chemo in 2nd line
 RP-1828 IMMUcan Open
Cohort 2

  • SCCHN patients with confirmed progression after treatment with chemo-radiation
  • To receive salvage surgery less than 1 year after chemo-radiation
 RP-1828 IMMUcan Open
Cohort 3

  • Patients with advanced or metastatic rare cancer
  • Salivary gland tumors of major salivary gland; salivary gland type tumors of head and neck with a strong focus on acinic cell carcinoma; NUT or neuroendocrine tumors of head and neck
  • Patients older than 12 years old
 RP-1843 Arcagen Open

Breast cancer (Breas)

Primary disease Projects Status
Cohort 1

  • Patients with confirmed metastatic TNBC
  • Naïve of any anti-local or systemic cancer treatment (in the adjuvant or metastatic settings)
  • To be treated in 1st line with focus on ICI/ICI-chemo
 RP-1828 IMMUcan Open
Cohort 2

  • Patients with confirmed diagnostic of localized TNBC (stage I to III) breast cancer
  • To be treated with anthracycline-taxane-based neo-adjuvant therapy
  • Enrolled prior to neo-adjuvant chemotherapy
 RP-1828 IMMUcan Open
Cohort 3

  • Patients with confirmed diagnostic of localized HER2+ (stage I to III) breast cancer
  • To be treated with anthracycline-taxane-based neo-adjuvant therapy
  • Enrolled prior to neo-adjuvant chemotherapy
 RP-1828 IMMUcan Open

Gastrointestinal (GI)

Primary disease Projects Status
Cohort 1

  • Patients with a confirmed diagnostic of metastatic colorectal adenocarcinoma
  • Planed resection (curative intend) of the primary tumor and metastasis (liver and/or lung and/or peritoneal) in 1 or several successive surgical procedures, without any intercurrent treatment between procedures
 RP-1828 IMMUcan Open
Cohort 2

  • Patients with a diagnosis of widespread metastatic colorectal cancer not suitable for upfront surgery
  • Progressing after surgical resection of their primary tumor (diagnosed at stage M0) OR diagnosed with M1 disease and had palliative resection of the primary tumor before any treatment
  • With at least one accessible metastatic lesion for new biopsy
 RP-1828 IMMUcan Open
Cohort 3

  • Patients with advanced or metastatic rare cancer
  • Pseudomyxoma/adenocarcinoma of the appendix ; cholangiocarcinoma ; gallbladder; germ cell tumors; or neuroendocrine tumors; or small bowel carcinoma
  • Patients older than 12 years old
 RP-1843 Arcagen Open

Genito Urinary (GU)

Primary disease Projects Status
Cohort 1

  • Patients with confirmed metastatic RCC
  • To be treated in 1st line
 RP-1828 IMMUcan Open
Cohort 2

  • Patients with advanced or metastatic rare cancer
  • Sex cord tumours; germ cell tumour; and malignant/immature teratoma; or neuroendocrine tumors
  • Patients older than 12 years old
 RP-1843 Arcagen Open

Sarcoma (SARCO)

Primary disease Projects Status
Cohort 1

  • Patients with non-grade 1 bone or soft tissue sarcoma
  • Newly diagnosed or any relapsed
  • Age between 12 and 29
 RP-1759 AYA Close
Cohort 2

  • Patients with advanced or metastatic rare cancer
  • Undifferentiated sarcoma of the bone; aggressive angiomyxoma; alveolar soft part sarcoma; or small round cell sarcoma without translocations
  • Patients older than 12 years old
 RP-1843 Arcagen Open

Central Nervous system (CNS)

Primary disease Projects Status
Cohort 1

  • Patients with high grade glioma (grade 3 and 4, including relapsed disease from lower grade)
  • Newly diagnosed or any relapsed
  • Age between 12 and 29
 RP-1759 AYA Open
Cohort 2

  • Patients with advanced or metastatic rare cancer
  • Embryonal tumors of the central nervous system
  • Patients older than 12 years old
 RP-1843 Arcagen Open

Female reproductive organs (Gyne)

Primary disease Projects Status
Cohort 1

  • Patients with advanced or metastatic rare cancer
  • rare ovarian cancer; primary peritoneal cancer and/or fallopian-tube cancer, including low grade serous carcinoma, mucinous adenocarcinoma, clear cell adenocarcinoma; other rare epithelial cancer, sex cord tumors, germ cell tumor; vulvar cancer, yolk sac tumor, trophoblastic tumor, and malignant/immature teratoma.
  • Patients older than 12 years old
 RP-1843 Arcagen Open

Endocrine (ENDO)

Primary disease Projects Status
Cohort 1

  • Patients with advanced or metastatic rare cancer
  • With Adrenocortical carcinoma or Pheochromocytoma
  • Or with Anaplastic Thyroid cancer, Medullary thyroid cancer, or Radioiodine Refractory thyroid cancer
  • Patients older than 12 years old
 RP-1843 Arcagen Open

Peritoneum (Perit)

Primary disease Projects Status
Cohort 1

  • Patients with advanced or metastatic rare cancer
  • Mesothelioma of the peritoneum
  • Patients older than 12 years old
 RP-1843 Arcagen Open

Eye (Eye)

Primary disease Projects Status
Cohort 1

  • Patients with advanced or metastatic rare cancer
  • Malignant melanoma of the uvea; or retinoblastoma
  • Patients older than 12 years old
 RP-1843 Arcagen Open

Skin (skin)

Primary disease Projects Status
Cohort 1

  • Patients with advanced or metastatic rare cancer
  • Adnexal carcinoma of the skin, or Merkel cells cancer
  • Patients older than 12 years old
 RP-1843 Arcagen Open

Unknown primary (cup)

Primary disease Projects Status
Cohort 1

  • Patients with advanced or metastatic rare cancer
  • Unknown primary site
  • Patients older than 12 years old
 RP-1843 Arcagen Open

Projects description

RP-1828 IMMUcan

The goal is to generate broad molecular (WES, lcWGS and RNAseq) and cellular profiling data (multiplex IF and IMC) of the tumour and its microenvironment from cancer patients integrated with clinical data, to understand how the immune system and tumours interact, and the impact of current therapeutic interventions.

We will collect:
Material available at enrollment in IMMUcan:

  • FFPE Tissue: At least one FFPE block or a minimum 15 FFPE slides
  • Fresh Frozen (FF) Tissue: Requested when available (for molecular analysis)
  • Blood:1 serum tube, 3 ACD tubes, 1 BCT, 1 PAXgene RNA tube, 1 PAXgene DNA tube, 1 EDTA tube

Others: Stool and saliva samples
At follow-up (at progression, but check cohort specificities):

  • FFPE Tissue: At least one FFPE block or a minimum 15 FFPE slides (when possible, depending on tissue availability)
  • Fresh Frozen (FF) Tissue: requested when available (for molecular analysis)
  • Blood: 1 serum tube, 3 ACD tubes, 1 BCT, 1 PAXgene RNA tube, 1 EDTA tube

RP-1759 AYA/TYA

12-29 year-old: Non-Grade 1 Bone and Soft Tissue Sarcoma , High Grade Diffuse Astrocytic Tumors patients

EORTC wants to develop a sequencing project targeting specifically young adults (12 to 29 years old) with rare cancer (with Martin McCabe as study coordinator):

  • to understand better the biology of the tumor in this specific population, and compare it to children and adults with similar disease
  • to improve the inclusion of young adults into clinical trials.

The pilot study will be focusing on young adults with high grade glioma as well as non-grade 1 bone and soft tissue sarcoma. Patients with initial diagnosis must be recruited prospectively within 6 months of diagnosis. To note, surgical specimen for patients treated with neo-adjuvant therapy can be used. For relapse patients, FFPE sample must be from the latest progression, patient must be alive, patient must be under treatment for the latest progression and not have had a new recurrence in between.
The aim of the pilot phase is to test the infrastructure and our accrual potential in this age group of patients.

For this project, we will collect FFPE tissue available at enrollment to perform molecular analysis (WES, RNAseq and EPIC array) and also implement a central pathology review as well as a molecular tumor board, to bring the clinical knowledge back to the patient and the clinician.

RP-1843 Arcagen

This is a collaborative project between EORTC and EURACAN (with Jean Yves Blay as study coordinator), to perform molecular characterisation of rare cancers patients, using Foundation Medicine tests. The goal of this project is to get a better understanding of the genomic landscape of rare cancers and potentially help define possibilities for targeted treatments/clinical trials for this population.

We will collect at least one FFPE block or freshly cut FFPE slides from an archival block of less than 2 years old or from a freshly collected de novo biopsy performed as per routine care. Samples should contain sufficient tumour and stroma content and/or be large enough to meet DNA/RNA input requirements. If the FFPE sample does not meet the quality and quantity requirement, a blood sample will be required.

RP-1920 BioRadon

The BioRadon project aims at correlating the molecular phenotype of Non Small Cell Lung Cancers to the indoor radon exposure. For this project, 3 new cohorts will open in the coming 6 months to recruit 1323 NSCLC patients.
More information to come.